Appointment Requests

Any department chair hiring a candidate who will receive funding from the WFUSM (e.g., salary, startup, etc.) will need to complete the steps outlined in the SOP. If the candidate is receiving WFUSM funding and clinical support, the department chair will also need to follow the process outlined by UGP. Candidates fully funded through the clinical enterprise (i.e., no WFUSM funding) do not need to complete the process outlined below.

Candidates fully funded through the clinical enterprise (with no WFUSM funding) do not need to follow the WFUSM SOP steps.

• Faculty Appointment Request Form
• Faculty Recruitment Justification and Offer Package Form
• Along with other information, this budget template will need to be uploaded into this REDCap form:
• If faculty candidate has a requested initial salary below the NIH cap, use this budget template.
• If faculty candidate has a requested initial salary above the NIH cap, use this budget template.

Appointment Request Supporting Documents

• Curriculum Vitae (CV)
• Chair Letter of Support
• Letters of Reference (LOR) If applicable
• Two letters are required if the candidate is requesting promotion in rank from a previous institution.
• One additional letter is required if requesting tenure, especially if the candidate did not have tenure at their prior institution.
• Reference Letter Requirements:
• Candidates should provide the department with the names and email addresses of references. The department is responsible for outreach.
• Letters should be submitted with the Faculty Candidate Summary form.

Secondary Appointments:

Submit a Chair Letter of Support, signed by both the Primary and Secondary Chairs when requesting a secondary appointment at the time of hire.

The Tenure Track is reserved for faculty members whose main professional focus is scholarship in scientific discovery and innovation. As a general guideline, to be appointed on the Tenure Track faculty members in basic science departments and non-clinical faculty members in clinical departments should have at least 65% effort and clinical faculty members should have at least 50% effort devoted to grant-funded scholarship. Scholarly activities may encompass research activities, or education that involves scholarship beyond teaching excellence. With the agreement of the Chair/Division Director and Dean, certain faculty members may be eligible for tenure with lower percentages of scholarly effort but are evaluated for tenure by the Promotion & Tenure (P&T) Committee using the same standards of scholarship as faculty meeting the 65/50% standards.  Granting of tenure is subject to the criteria and procedure detailed in Appendix B and is typically requested at the time of promotion to Associate Professor. Faculty members on the Tenure Track are expected to have a significant number of peer-reviewed journal articles and scholarship that demonstrate progression of research activity throughout their career and reflect a high degree of productivity within their individual areas of expertise. Past and current success as well as future outlook regarding extramural funding is an important element for a faculty member’s academic advancement on this track.

The Non-Tenure Track is reserved for faculty members embedded within the Wake Forest University School of Medicine (WFUSM) who are involved in several aspects of their department’s mission focused on four Areas of Distinction (AOD): Investigation and Inquiry, Teaching and Mentoring, Clinical and Patient Care, and Service and Administration. The Non-Tenure Track is designed to allow faculty to be promoted based on the skills and roles they have developed throughout their career and to recognize that roles and skills may evolve over a faculty member’s career. There is a moderately high expectation of scholarly activity and will be dependent on the goals of each faculty member in alignment with the four Areas of Distinction that will be used to evaluate future promotion on the Non-Tenure Track. Non-Tenure Track faculty are not eligible for Tenure at Hire; however Non-Tenure Track faculty may have the option to switch to the Tenure Track in the future if their scholarly production and extramural funding aligns with the Tenure Track. For faculty members on Non-Tenure Track that may be considering a future change to the Tenure Track, the nine-year tenure clock begins on the date of the faculty member’s first appointment on the Non-Tenure Track and not when the faculty changes to the Tenure Track.

Adjunct appointments recognize professional contributions in clinical, teaching, and/or research activities.

Departments can request adjunct appointments to support collaborations with faculty from other academic institutions.

Required Documents:

• Adjunct Faculty Candidate Summary Form
• VA Adjunct Faculty Candidate Summary Form

Research Faculty Affiliate appointments are for faculty employed by Advocate/Aurora, Navicent, or Floyd who need access to WFUSM’s National Center for Clinical Trials (NCCT) or Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP).

Eligibility:

• Must have a primary faculty appointment at another academic institution.
• Must demonstrate that relinquishing that primary appointment would negatively impact the other institution’s educational program.

Required Documents:

• Current CV
• Chair’s letter documenting qualifications for the rank
• Proof of current primary appointment at another academic institution
• Proof that relinquishing that appointment would be detrimental
• Letter from NCCT or OSP confirming research/clinical trial funding will be managed under WFUSM processes

The Senior Associate Dean of Faculty Affairs will review and approve final appointments.

Expectations:

• Research Faculty Affiliates must be engaged in funded research or clinical trials conducted under WFUSM’s processes and policies.

Faculty Instructors are individuals employed by WFUHS, Atrium, Advocate/Aurora, Navicent, Floyd, or eligible contract affiliates contributing significantly to WFUSM’s educational mission.

Role Examples:

• Physicians or clinicians primarily providing patient care
• Preceptors for medical or graduate education
• Post-doctoral fellows serving as part-time preceptors
• Clinicians in residency or fellowship training participating in education
• Early-career basic science faculty bridging to Assistant Professor roles through research

Required Documents:

• Current CV
• Letter from the hiring Chair documenting qualifications for Faculty Instructor rank

The Senior Associate Dean will review and approve the appointment.